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Progress: Return of the Fly

Cue the CDK theme song because it’s time to kick things off with a Progress recap.

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Return of the Fly took place on September 27 at the Dome in London, England in the United Kingdom, a few days after the 142nd chapter of Progress took place. You may notice that it doesn’t have a chapter number next to it, mainly because it’s a special event or “subchapter” if you will. (You’re welcome to call it chapter 142½ if you want to…lol…) This special was entitled “Return of the Fly” had nothing to do with the sequel to the 1958 horror film “The Fly”; the “fly” referenced Chris Brookes who clashed with Kid Lykos in a no disqualification match that served as the main event.

Before I talk more about the main event, I will focus on what was on the card that night. Eight matches were on the card, consisting of three regular one-on-one matches, two regular tag team matches, a match that was part of the quarterfinal round of the Natural Progression Series, a Progress Atlas Championship match (the only match with gold on the line that night), and the aforementioned no disqualification match; to me, those eight matches ranged from fair to very good.

There were three matches that I enjoyed in this Progress special; one was the opener that featured the wrestlers on the women’s roster, one was a match that was part of the quarterfinal round of the NPS, and—of course—one was the no DQ main event.

The opening match was Taonga returning to Progress action taking on Rhio. Both wrestlers indeed started off Return of the Fly with a bang in the form of this opener, with great back and forth action; Taonga still showed what she’s capable of after being away from Progress for a few months, ditto Rhio who has been on a roll and progressing very well as we’ve seen on both Progress and ICW.

The Natural Progression Series began with one of wXw’s rising stars Peter Tihanyi taking on next generation wrestler Ricky Knight Jr. This match was indeed a great way to kick off the tournament, mainly because of a strong showing that both competitors had in this bout; in the end, Knight won to advance to the next round.

Onto the main event which was indeed a way to end Return of the Fly on a high note, and I’m pretty sure anyone that don’t consider no DQ matches their cup of tea would agree; I’m talking about, of course, the no DQ match between teammates turned enemies Chris Brookes and Kid Lykos. This main event had everything including moments that had everyone on the edge of their seats, as well as spots that were in or outside the ring and also involved the weapons that were used in this match. Matches like this often give me an adrenaline rush, and this one did not disappoint me one bit; it was a match turned all-out war from start to finish, and I praise both Brookes and Kid Lykos on how they performed—as well as both of their sidekicks Masa Takanashi and Kid Lykos II respectively—in that match which was indeed spectacular.

Here are the match results from London…

Match #1: Rhio defeated Taonga.

After Rhio hit Taonga with an ushigoroshi for two and missed on a running heel kick attempt, Taonga hit her with a uranage for two followed by the I’m Prettier (or Unprettier if you’re Christian Cage) for a near fall; Rhio came back put her in an arm trapped cloverleaf for the submission win. My score: 4/5

Match #2: Masa Takanashi defeated Luke Jacobs. Takanashi’s theme song, “The Fight” by Giorgio Moroder, was edited out and replaced with the CDK theme.

Towards the end, Jacobs hit Takanashi with the Burning Lariat and a powerbomb for a near fall, then Takanashi dodged two more Burning Lariat attempts while making a comeback and went for a Code Red until Jacobs countered it with a sleeper. Jacobs then went for another powerbomb until Takanashi hit him with a hurricanrana for two and then, while clinging onto the referee on Jacobs’ German suplex attempt, hit him with a knee drop onto the groin for the win. My score: 2.5/5

Match #3: Skye Smitson & L.A. Taylor (w/ Lana Austin) defeated Royal Aces.

Charlie Morgan cleaned house on her opponents—as well as Lana—before hitting Skye with an assisted tightrope cannonball followed by Jetta’s Sliced Bread for a two count; Lana shoved Jetta into the post while the referee wasn’t looking, then Skye hit Charlie with the Smitson Effect (Air Raid Crash) for two and Charlie blocked a sleeper slam until Skye rolled her up, grabbed the tights, and pinned her for the win. After the match, Royal Aces fought back until all three members of the Lana Austin Experience retook the upper hand; Rhio got on the apron with a steel chair to even the odds until Taonga appeared and knocked her off. My score: 2/5

Match #4: Aussie Open defeated Violence Is Forever.

A shoving match between both teams occurred before the bell rang. As soon as the match began, all four fought out of the ring, with Dominic Garrini and Kevin Ku booting the seated Mark Davis and Kyle Fletcher in the crowd until Aussie Open picked up the two and rammed them at ringside. Towards the end, Davis and Fletcher went for the Coriolis until VIF came back with sleepers and then hit Davis with the Total Elimination (high-low) until Fletcher broke up the pin; Aussie Open came back and won with the Coriolis. Afterwards, Davis and Fletcher teased sucker punching Garrini and Ku, but shook hands instead. My score: 3.75/5

Match #5: Ricky Knight Jr. defeated Peter Tihanyi in the quarterfinal round of the Natural Progression Series tournament.

Tihanyi wore a fanny pack to the ring. Earlier on, Knight took down Tihanyi, took the fanny pack and wiped it on his own crotch as if it were a towel. Near the end, Tihanyi hit Knight with a pump knee followed by the Sky Walker (Salida del Sol) for a near fall, then went for a 450, but missed; Knight hit Tihanyi with an electric chair into a cutter for two, then hit him with an electric chair into a driver for another two until Tihanyi came back with a Canadian destroyer for two. Then, Tihanyi went for another Sky Walker until Knight countered with a sit out driver for the win. After the match, Simon Miller noticed that Tihanyi left his fanny pack, and the fans joking asked him to put it on. My score: 4/5

Match #6: Elijah defeated Dan Moloney by disqualification.

Early in the show, Moloney apologized to Man Like Dereiss for not being by his side for his match against Spike Trivet (whose name he refused to mention) in chapter 142, then said that he was going to picture Trivet while fighting Elijah. Towards the end, Elijah blocked Moloney’s Drilla and came back with a crucifix driver for two followed by the Danger Buster (leg trapped spinebuster) for a near fall until Moloney speared him for two. Then, Moloney attempted to hit Elijah with the Drilla until he saw Trivet at the entryway; Moloney—angered by Trivet and his presence—took his frustrations out on the referee by hitting him with the Drilla, giving Elijah the DQ win.

After the match, Moloney attempted to go after Trivet until Bullit came from the crowd and he and Trivet fought him in the ring before Trivet berated Moloney for not mentioning his name and giving one of his legs the Conchairto. As Trivet and Bullit were leaving, Moloney called Trivet the c-word that rhymes with runt and vowed to get his hands on him and Bullit; Trivet, who said that Moloney was nowhere near him or the Progress World Championship, agreed. My score: 3/5

Match #7: Big Damo defeated Shigehiro Irie to retain the Progress Atlas Championship.

After Damo hit Irie with the Divide for a near fall and missed with the Belfast Blitz, Irie put him in a grounded chicken wing before forearming him down for two; Damo came back with Wasteland, followed by a senton and the Belfast Blitz for the win. After the match, Damo helped up Irie and gave him a thumbs up before the two shook hands and bumped fists. My score: 3.5/5

Main event: Kid Lykos (w/ Kid Lykos II) defeated Chris Brookes (w/ Masa Takanashi) in a no disqualification match.

Hopefully, this is one of the few times I’ll use an uncensored f-bomb in this recap. Lykos Gym was equipped with a door that had “FUCK CCK” spraypainted on it; that same message was also on KL’s jacket. Also, Brookes’ theme song—“Human Fly” by the Cramps—was edited out and replaced with the CDK theme. (Perhaps they’re not music lovers like I am?) Seconds before the bell rang, KL hit Brookes with a missile dropkick and then a tope suicida, leading to the two fighting at ringside and then through the crowd and at the merchandise table; as soon as the two got to the apron, Brookes—after ripping KL’s mask during the brawl—dropped his opponent face first on a top turnbuckle from an electric chair position, busting him open.

A trashcan, steel chairs, a ladder and a bag full of thumbtacks would also come into play. KL climbed to the top rope until Brookes followed him, tore apart the mask to reveal his face, and gave him the Ric Flair treatment by throwing him off the top rope and onto an open chair for a two count. KL fought back and poured the tacks on the mat until Brookes hit him with an Alabama Slam onto the ladder, then slammed him on the tacks and hit him with a Meteora for a two; KL hit him with two Casanova kicks, then threw Brookes onto the tacks before missing with a Swanton attempt, landing onto the tacks instead of his opponent which then allowed Brookes to hit him with a shotgun dropkick through the door followed by a superplex onto the tacks for two.

KL hit Brookes with a brainbuster onto the tacks followed by a Swanton for a near fall, then hit him with a 450 into a cutter until Takanashi pulled the referee out of the ring, leading to KL hitting him with a tope suicida. Then, KL2 wanted KL to hit Brookes with the baking tray until—after being hesitant—KL threw KL2 out of the ring, leading to Brookes hitting him with the tray followed by the Praying Mantis Bomb onto the tacks for a near fall; Brookes went for another Praying Mantis Bomb until KL countered with a rollup for the win. After the match, KL offered a hug, and Brookes refused at first until finally deciding to hug him; Brookes then took the microphone from KL and talked about their past as CCK before KL’s injury, then said that KL was “ten times the wrestler you ever were” and then thanking him for the times they had together. As Brookes left, KL bowed to the crowd, took off his torn mask and left. My score: 4/5

ICW Fight Club

Staying in England, we now head to the Northumbria University Students Union in Newcastle Upon Tyne for an episode of ICW Fight Club.

The city of Manchester was part of their tour—along with Inverness, Scotland where the last two episodes occurred—before returning to Glasgow for Fear & Loathing XIV which was right around the corner at that time. (I believe this year’s F&L will be shown on Peacock and WWE Network in December just like last year’s was.) Just like the last two episodes of Fight Club, this week’s episode had decent matches as well.

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Four matches were on the card, and out of the four that occurred, my favorite would have to go to the hard-hitting battle between Sha Samuels and Shreddy. The storyline heading into this match was Samuels looking to pick up a win after officially returning to ICW as well as preparing himself for his match at F&L against “Jackie Polo.” Shreddy, whom we’ve also seen in Progress Chapter 138, mostly made this match one sided until Samuels came back and was able to defeat the powerhouse. We have seen great battles involving heavy hitters as of late including Sheamus vs. Gunther at Clash At the Castle, and this one was indeed a great bout pitting the “East End Butcher” Samuels and “England’s Hardest Man” Shreddy.

Here are the match results from Newcastle Upon Tyne…

Match #1: Craig Anthony defeated Charlie Vyce (w/ Ian Skinner).

During the match, Vyce whipped Anthony hard into the barricade, and Anthony fought back with a springboard forearm from the barricade as he came back in from the crowd to the ringside area. After going back and forth once the two fought back into the ring, Anthony would win with a half nelson driver. My score: 3.5/5

Match #2: Sha Samuels defeated Shreddy.

Shreddy was equipped with a chain. During the match, Shreddy—who made this match one sided as I mentioned moments ago—attempted to use the chain as a weapon until the referee stopped him, leading to Samuels rolling up his distracted opponent for two. Shreddy fought back until Samuels hit him with the Mug Smasher (spinebuster) and a frog splash for the win. My score: 3.75/5

Match #3: BT Gunn defeated Chris Bungard.

Bungard had Gunn in a grapevine ankle lock until Gunn grabbed the ropes to break the hold and got out of the ring; then, Gunn threw powder in Bungard’s face and then beat him down with a nightstick before pinning him for the win. My score: 3/5

Main event: Kez Evans defeated Martin Kirby to retain the ICW World Heavyweight Championship.

This match was originally scheduled to be a non-title bout until Kirby asked for the belt to be on the line; Evans refused at first until Kirby said that he heard that Evans was “one giant pussy.” After Evans hit Kirby with the Kez Dispenser for a near fall, Evans climbed to the top rope until Kirby followed him and then hit him with a backpack stunner before Evans had his foot under the ropes. Evans then brandished the brass knuckles and hit Kirby with them for the win. After the match, Evans hit Kirby with the belt and then punched him down, then attempted to hit him with the knuckles again until Craig Anthony chased him out of the ring. My score: 3/5

NXT

We now head to Orlando, Florida in the United States for an episode of NXT.

Last week, we learned that there will be two Iron Survivor Challenge matches—one for men and one for women—at NXT Deadline with the participants that will be announced on next week’s episode. This week, two more matches were announced.

One of the two matches announced was for the NXT Championship between Bron Breakker and Apollo Crews; this match was made after Crews defeated JD McDonagh on last week’s episode of NXT. Like I said recently, I have been looking forward to seeing those two wrestlers clash for the belt that Crews never got a chance to win back when NXT was the black-and-gold brand; seeing him go at it with the “2.0” original Breakker for the title will indeed be a must-see match, with both generations of NXT colliding come December. Right now, I’m on the fence on who I want to win (even though, like Breakker after seeing his promo on this week’s episode, I like to go fishing as well per se).

The other match that was announced, even though it’s not yet set in stone, is a tag team match between the Creed Brothers and the recently reunited Indus Sher. Last week, after Veer Mahaan and Sanga squashed their opponents, the two vowed to destroy anyone that disrespects them like Brutus and Julius Creed despite respecting the Creed Brothers. This week, the Creeds—after seeing Ivy Nile pick up a win—said that the way Indus Sher intimidates everyone in their path doesn’t affect them, leading to the two challenging the team to a match at Deadline. Not only have we seen the Creed Brothers rolling along as of late, but also Indus Sher yet to wreak havoc on NXT’s tag team division; you may recall back in early 2020 that Veer Mahaan and Sanga—back when they were Rinku and Saurav respectively—had a few tag team bouts with Malcolm Bivens (now going by his real name Stokely Hathaway on AEW) as their manager until the two parted ways after WWE Superstar Spectacle in January of last year with Mahaan teaming up with Jinder Mahal and Shanky, and Saurav briefly working for Grayson Waller as his bodyguard before becoming a babyface advisor for members of the NXT roster. If this match is officially made for Deadline, I’m sure that it will be one great collision between the two teams to watch.

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There were six matches that took place on this week’s episode of NXT, with the last two matches of the night being championship matches. One of those championship matches—that became my favorite match of the episode—was the long-awaited NXT North American Championship match between Wes Lee and Carmelo Hayes. The contract for that match was signed last week, and interesting to note, Hayes was never pinned or submitted in any championship match—with that belt on the line—even during his time as the champion. The fact that Hayes noted last week ended up being like a Sports Illustrated cover jinx this week, and after a great back-and-forth championship bout, Lee was finally able to make his opponent lose by pinfall and retain that belt. Lee showed what it takes to be a fighting champion while he’s currently competing as a singles competitor, as did Hayes even if he’s not carrying any gold right now. Now that Hayes is in Lee’s rearview mirror, he now has bigger fish to fry in the form of a competitor that returned to what’s nowadays the white-and-gold brand seeking—pun intended—retribution as well as (as we saw in promos) justice.

Here are the NXT results from Orlando…

Match #1: Cora Jade defeated Wendy Choo.

This match was made after Cora blamed Wendy—who stopped her from beating down Valentina Feroz one week prior—for being desperate to be liked and accepted; this led to Wendy making the match, vowing to give Cora “two black eyes.” Wendy hit Cora with a brainbuster, then went for a top rope maneuver, but missed; Cora grabbed her kendo stick until Wendy booted her and took the stick from her, then—behind the referee’s back—Cora grabbed Wendy’s drink and splashed her with it before winning with a DDT. Wendy was crying in the middle of the ring afterwards. My score: 2.5/5

Match #2: Ivy Nile (w/ Tatum Paxley) defeated Kiana James in almost five minutes.

After Ivy threw Kiana out of the ring with a thrust kick, Fallon Henley appeared and chased her back in; this led to Ivy making Kiana submit to the DCL. After the match, Fallon fought Kiana out of the ring and to the back while the Creed Brothers came into the ring and challenged Indus Sher to a match at NXT Deadline. My score: 1/5

Match #3: Scrypts defeated Guru Raaj in over a minute.

The masked wrestler Scrypts (whose promos we’ve seen for weeks including phone messages to the WWE Performance Center) is actually Reggie, best known for being a former WWE 24/7 Champion and—beforehand—Carmella’s sommelier. (For those of you that missed out on Raw and SmackDown by the way, the WWE 24/7 Championship no longer exists courtesy of Nikki Cross who threw the belt in the trash after defeating Dana Brooke for it.) Keeping the long story short, Scrypts won with a 450 senton. After the match, Scrypts placed a card with his name on it on top of Raaj. My score: 0.5/5

Match #4: Zoey Stark defeated Sol Ruca in four minutes.

Sol hit Zoey with a powerslam for two, but missed on a missile dropkick attempt; this led to Zoey winning with a sliding knee. After the match, Nikkita Lyons ran in and fought Zoey out of the ring. My score: 1.5/5

Match #5: Pretty Deadly defeated Andre Chase & Duke Hudson (w/ Thea Hail) to retain the NXT Tag Team Championship.

This match was made after Pretty Deadly poked fun of Hudson for joining Chase U and then attacking him backstage; Hudson told Chase the news, including making their match a title match, and Chase liked the idea. As soon as the match began, Elton Prince attempted to blindside Chase until Hudson stopped him from doing so. Also, during the match, Chase threw Prince out of the ring and inadvertently into Thea; Hudson checked on Thea while Chase wanted to tag him into the match before Prince and Kit Wilson continued to cut the ring in half on their opponents. Near the end, Chase and Hudson made a comeback and went for the Fratliner until Prince attempted to stop it before an exhausted Chase took him down; Chase then held up Wilson for Hudson, but Hudson missed and ended up booting Chase, leading to Pretty Deadly winning with Spilled Milk to Chase. My score: 3.25/5

Main event: Wes Lee defeated Carmelo Hayes to retain the NXT North American Championship.

Lee climbed up a small mountain that was set up at the entryway before he came to the ring. Early in the match, both Lee and Hayes booted each other down and ended up in a double pin for two. Towards the end, Hayes hit Lee with a Codebreaker, then went for the Nothing But Net, but missed and allowed Lee to hit him with a Meteora for two; then, Trick Williams came and checked on Hayes until Lee hit him with a tope con giro. Afterwards, Hayes fought back until Lee hit him with a backflip heel kick followed by a Michinoku driver for the win. After the match, Lee saw his name—“And still your NXT North American Champion Wes Lee”—covered in prison bars on the graphics, then turned around and saw Dijak in the ring. The former Dominik Dijakovic and T-Bar picked up Lee and hit him with the Feast Your Eyes (he ended up botching that finisher unfortunately) and stood over him. My score: 4.25/5

NXT: LVL UP

Staying in Orlando, we wrap things up with an episode of NXT: LVL UP.

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After two so-so episodes of NXT: LVL UP, my prayers were finally answered this week courtesy of Dante Chen and Damon Kemp who gave us a great way to wrap up this week’s episode. Chen was still looking to pick up another win, and Kemp has been working on his solo run ever since being denounced by Diamond Mine as a turncoat after putting Roderick Strong out of action. Both wrestlers had a strong showing in this bout, and in the end, it was Kemp who emerged victorious.

Here are the NXT: LVL UP results from Orlando…

Match #1: Xyon Quinn defeated Xyon Quinn in almost five minutes with a Samoan drop and a charging forearm.

My score: 2/5

Match #2: Elektra Lopez defeated Amari Miller in four and a half minutes.

After dodging a springboard moonsault from Amari, Elektra won with the Electric Drop (or as D’Lo Brown called it the “Sky High”). My score: 1.5/5

Main event: Damon Kemp defeated Dante Chen.

Chen made a comeback until Kemp caught him with a German suplex followed by a one-armed backbreaker (ala Sheamus) for the win. My score: 3/5

Next time…

I’m looking back at Survivor Series WarGames, as well as my usual three. There may also be a belated Progress recap in there as well.

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Thanks for reading! Feel free to comment! I’ll see you next time!

(Photos shown in the newsletter are from WWE, Progress and ICW.)